WiMAX posted a strong fourth quarter as well, with fixed WiMAX topping $180.7 million (up 39% from 3Q06) and the nascent mobile WiMAX market reaching $45.8 million, bringing total WiMAX up to $226.5 million in 4Q06.
"2006 was a landmark year for the WiMAX industry, with service provider trials moving to service launch phase in many areas, fixed WiMAX deployments accelerating rapidly in developing countries, and mobile WiMAX products coming to market for the first time. The mobile WiMAX market in particular is showing signs of a healthy future, with the infrastructure, components, and handset ecosystem now coming together -- boosted by the significant announcement of Sprint-Nextel in 2006," said Richard Webb, analyst at Infonetics Research.
With new vendors like Cisco entering the market, the small but rapidly growing outdoor wireless mesh access node segment also had a good year, posting 257% growth in 2006 to reach $392.1 million. Applications are broadening beyond municipalities, pushing demand for wireless access nodes: high double- and triple-digit unit shipment growth rates are expected through 2010.
Market Highlights
-- The worldwide WiMAX equipment market is forecast to increase more than 10-fold between 2006 and 2010, when it will reach almost $5.6 billion
-- In 4Q06, Alvarion leads in fixed WiMAX equipment revenue share, followed by Redline and Airspan
-- Tropos leads in outdoor mesh equipment revenue in 4Q06, followed by Strix and BelAir
-- In 2006, EMEA accounts for 34% of fixed WiMAX equipment revenue, Asia Pacific for 33%, North America 18%, and CALA 15%; CALA's share grows to 21% in 2010
-- In 2006, 42% of mobile WiMAX equipment revenue came from Asia Pacific, 33% from North America, 14% from EMEA, 11% from CALA
